DeTrumpis was made by Trump “hence the nickname”. He would be nothing without Trump. Some other guy who I don’t even remember was going to win the nomination in Florida without Trump stepping in.
As much as we all hate Trump, he has an adolf Hitler like ability to connect with the bottom of the barrel in this country like nobody has ever seen before and it can’t be replicated. Lots of people spend their meager paychecks going all around the country to attend trump rallies. It is like their Woodstock or their hobby or something. These people will not support a geek like Desantis. He doesn’t have the charisma and the moxie that is required to pull it off like Trump has. He probably doesn’t have the energy level and the ability to keep those trashy folks so engaged and willing to crawl over glass to support the GOP like Trump was able to do.
With that said, I do think Detrumpis could have a “Beto effect” on some of the suburban women that Beto was able to flip in 2018. He looks nice and has a soft spoken demeanor, he doesn’t insult people, he doesn’t have that toxic personality that turns people off in the suburbs like Trump does. At the end of the day, I think it would be a wash. He would lose the trump base, but he would win some college educated suburban people back.
In addition, Republicans aren’t going to the GOP in droves. He can’t replicate that formula nationwide. Desantis has been helped considerably by state optics that are unique to Florida. Old people move to Florida in droves and are doing all they can to keep it red. People from South American countries are doing the same thing. There’s a huge difference between a Hispanic in Nevada / Arizona and a Cuban in Florida. They won’t be able to win over or convince Arizona or Nevada Hispanics with the “socialism” rhetoric and the “democrats will rape your babies in the street” crap that worked so well in Florida.